A gripping debut that explores and manipulates the fears and insecurities of mothers everywhere . . . Well thought out, vividly realised and gripping * Guardian *
An inventive twist on the psychological thriller formula . . . Audrain sustains the suspense expertly through assured handling of her unravelling protagonist's voice * Sunday Times *
Ashley dares us to find the relatable in the worst we can imagine . . . the knife-edge between relatability and horror keeps the reader hooked * Grazia *
The Push was a poetic, propulsive read that set my nerves jangling in both horror and recognition. I read it one sitting and it stayed with me for days afterwards. Not to be missed -- Lisa Jewell
I was gripped . . . One of 2021's most anticipated books . . . Dazzling and gloriously complete -- Daisy Buchanan
I loved it - such a dark and compelling exploration of motherhood. Absolutely haunting: a brilliant, thought-provoking page-turner -- Caroline Lea
I was completely engrossed in The Push from the very first page. So tense, so all-encompassing! It's a jet-black story of motherhood, inheritance and expectations, and I loved it -- Abigail Dean, author of Girl A
I was totally hooked. Compelling, addictive, chilling. Smashing read -- Elizabeth Macneal
Suspenseful with extreme We Need To Talk About Kevin vibes, this is the Book Club Book that'll have everyone talking next year ... * Grazia *
A provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue *
The Push is a freight train of a read - it barrels into you and propels you along, taking you places you're not sure you want to go. I found it disturbing, upsetting, and utterly compelling -- Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy
With its riveting prose and deep convictions, Ashley Audrain's The Push had me in its clutches from the first page. Audrain's astute portrayal of motherhood was unsettling in its insights, yet highly entertaining on the page. Complex, nuanced, and unflinching, I inhaled this debut in one sitting -- Karma Brown * bestselling author of Recipe for a Perfect Wife *
Starkly original and compulsively readable, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a deep dive into the darkest nooks and crannies of motherhood. Raw, visceral, and often disturbing, this is an intense psychological drama that will be embraced by serious book clubs and fans of Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Kristin Hannah
The most thought-provoking exploration of motherhood I've come across since We Need to Talk About Kevin -- Clare Pooley
Intensely absorbing, gripping until the final page, The Push excavates the myths of motherhood, deftly exploring the shape-shifting landscape of parenting, the powerful impact of the past on the present, and the deep unease of our inability to ever fully know even those we hold the closest -- Kim Edwards, bestselling author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Stayed up too late finishing [Audrain's] deeply unsettling The Push about the darkest reaches of motherhood . . . Visceral, provocative, compulsive, and with the most graphic and relatable description of childbirth I've read (or written) -- Sarah Vaughan, bestselling author of Anatomy of a Scandal
Audrain nimbly stokes the mystery as to whether nature or nurture is at play in Violet's increasingly hostile disposition. Executed with gripping precision * New York Times *
The Push is written on the edge of a knife. It's a howl in the face of what we think we know - or want to believe - about motherhood. Relentlessly compelling, distressing and beautiful, Ashley Audrain's debut is the next Gone Girl, with shades of We Need to Talk About Kevin. I devoured it whole -- Marissa Stapley, bestselling author of The Last Resort
The Push is not a book you'll be able to forget easily . . . an unputdownable story that will be the book everyone is talking about in 2021 * Grazia *
Compelling, beautifully written and wickedly entertaining... A tremendously thought-provoking read -- Liz Nugent, author of Little Cruelties and Lying in Wait
Astonishingly good. Beautifully written, gripping, disturbing -- Jane Fallon, author of Queen Bee
A bold exploration of motherhood, as well as a suspenseful thriller, this will have you in its grips from the very first page - and will stay with you long after you've put it down. Do not miss * Heat, 'Book of the Week' *
A tense and unsettling thriller that's immersive, chilling, and provocative. A book that's best read in one sitting -- Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Ashley Audrain's The Push is not only a propulsively entertaining, read-in-one-sitting novel, it is also a deeply provocative and fearless look at motherhood written in some of the prettiest prose you'll read all year -- Aimee Molloy, New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Mother
Written with a courage that borders on audacity, and with uncanny emotional and psychological precision, Ashley Audrain's The Push is a taut, tour-de-force literary thriller that draws you in from the very first pages and plunges you into the most harrowing of journeys: parenthood -- Bill Clegg, New York Times bestselling author of Did You Ever Have A Family?
A meteoric debut. Ashley Audrain's The Push is a force of nature, an unforgettable arrival that will linger in your heart--shimmer, darken and then haunt you. Every sentence is just so achingly alive. Audrain descends with near pointillistic precision into the gore of motherhood and love. Perhaps if Stephen King had experienced motherhood--the singular exaltation and morbid terror of that state--he might have been able to dream up this book. Wise, monstrous, and tender, The Push operates at a different frequency. It seemed to pulse in my hands. I could not put it down. I could not look away -- Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker and Stunt
One to watch ... The Push is told from the point of view of Blythe Connor, whose experience of motherhood is not what she hoped for * The Bookseller *
Staggering - it is an intoxicating rush of a book that grips you tight from the first few pages and will not let you go * Cambridge Edition *
Most anticipated books of 2021 'Pre-order now and thank yourself later' * Marie Claire *
A thrilling debut * Harper's Bazaar, This Winter's Best New Releases from Rising Novelists *
The Push is a vivid and complex spiral of questioning your grasp on reality, of uttering unspeakable thoughts, when the world tells you it's all in your head. Book blurbs often say they'll be devoured in one sitting - it's rare it proves so true * The Skinny *
Suspenseful, dark and intriguing . . . It's going to be a big discussion point in 2021 * Stylist, Book to Watch 2021 *
A haunting tale about the expectations and reality of motherhood. Stunning . . . You end up staying up all night to finish The Push * E! Online *
Visceral, compulsive and astonishing. I could not put this down -- Raynor Winn, bestselling author of The Salt Path
'Best books to look forward to in 2021' * Cosmopolitan *
The chilling novel that caused a bidding frenzy more than lives up to the hype * Red Online *
A terrifying, psychological suspense tale of motherhood and nature versus nurture * Sunday Mirror *
Powerful and immersive -- Emma Stone, author of The Lamplighters
This chilling tale barrels along towards a dark, thought-provoking ending * Good Housekeeping *
The tense, gripping novel - which, after a nine-way bidding war, has already been optioned for film by the producer of ugly-cry-inducing Marriage Story - will stay with you long after you finish the last page * Refinery29 *
This psychological family drama will be your next one-sit read . . . you won't want to miss it * Silversurfers *
A creepy, nuanced story that, with a growing sense of dread, subverts the ideals of motherhood so often presented as inviolable * Publishers Association *
Buckle up for a riveting read . . . will have you alternately whizzing through the pages to see what happens next, and reading slowly with widened eyes * Prima, 'My Book of the Month' *
[An] exploration of love, obsession and the dark truths of motherhood * Cosmopolitan, Best Books 2021 *
Reminiscent of We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ashley Audrain has delivered a provocative, compulsive novel about modern motherhood * Vogue UK *
Included in 'Books for 2021' * Sun *
Written with an unflinching eye and a stylistically sharp, tight economy The Push is a single-sitting read, as suspenseful as any thriller, as thoughtful as any literary novel, with an almost physical force behind each of its turns and revelations. By the end, the reader will feel wrung out in the way only the best of books leaves you. Audrain's debut is a stunning, devastating novel and, frankly, one hell of a way to start a year of reading * Toronto Star *
Included in 'Books to Watch 2021' * Evening Standard *
Book Club Selection -- Good Morning America
Included in 'Best New Books' * New York Post *
This is a sterling addition to the burgeoning canon of bad seed suspense, from an arrestingly original new voice * Publishers Weekly *
This taut and tense hurricane of a debut is best devoured in one sitting * Newsweek *
This dazzling debut mixes page-turning suspense with a psychological drama * Working Motheer *
Once you start in on this story, it becomes difficult to control yourself. A twisted, tight, and exhilarating drama * Goop *
This psychological thriller about a mother's bond with her daughter will keep you turning pages * Woman's Day *
This nuanced book challenges the notion of nature versus nurture, and whether a mother's love is enough. It's disturbing, painful and brilliant, holding a mirror up to society * Woman's Weekly *
